Best of the Letters From 2000
Having My Eyes Opened to How Evil These Churches Are:
I am so glad to have found your website. I’ve been searching the web for sites on Herbert W. Armstrong and or the Worldwide Church of God and or cults. You see I was an member of the WCG, PCG and RCG for a total of 18 years and only now am I beginning to have my eyes open to how truly evil these so called churches really are. I have much to say and many questions but the time is not right yet. Thanks for your help so very much. Yours truly, –Exiter
Flurry Starts Building Project with Golden Shovel!:
Flurry is working with a golden (!!) shovel as a start of their building project on “Gods land” as they call it. There’s a photograph on the front page of the Philadelphia News; of Flurry standing on a carpet and in his hand is a shovel. Under the photograph one can read that the shovel is made of gold. You know that HWA often stated “God loves quality.” Flurry has carefully listened to his example HWA. –Exiter of PCG
Second Thoughts About Joining PCG:
Have just found some interesting info via your website and am wondering if it would be possible to get a copy of the police report regarding Gerald Flurry.
I was considering joining the PCG but now have considerable second thoughts. –J. A.
Sent Flurry a Scathing Letter:
A word of 20/20 hindsight: After January 8, 1972, HWA was proven to be a false prophet. All bets were off then! Can you believe I actually heard someone say from the pulpit (in response to the Scripture that says no man shall know the exact date and time of His return) that the reason that 1972 came and went with nothing was because HWA had “figured it out,” and that God had to change His time frame, since the Bible says that no man would know. The same deification of the man continues in PCG. Boy, did I send Flurry a scathing letter after I received a copy of his literature unsolicited! … Thanks for giving me a place to get stuff off of my chest. … Sincerely, –Tennessee
Flurry’s Literature is Lacking:
I gained interest while living in California via the TV Series from the WWCG program “The World Tomorrow.”
I had already started to see little things I did not agree with while taking the Bible study course. When the program seemed to go off the air, and I began seeing strange answers to my letters to the WWCG, I just dropped them. One day a program came on TV about the Key of David with Gerald Flurry. It at first was somewhat interesting in that they mentioned they had been associated with the WWCG and Armstrong. But I began seeing what appeared as “White Supremacist” attitudes and with some of their literature “lacking.” I have just gone back to the only real book you can believe in, the Bible.
I will have to admit that I stumbled on your information on the NET by accident concerning Armstrong and Flurry and am a bit shocked. I suppose I was gullible, but it was the first time anyone started actually answering my question about the Bible itself.
I saw weaknesses in both groups, thank God, and mainly used my own judgment as to what I read. It seems strange that I was suspecting things about them but wanted to learn about the Bible and was just plain naïve.
I have disposed of the literature already. … I intend to pick up a copy of David Robinson’s book [Herbert Armstrong’s Tangled Web] and have mailed a request to the publisher already to see if any copies are left. My plan is this: I have a set of Bible Encyclopedias, a Bible dictionary, and my little half worn out street language Bible, and that’s what I am sticking too unless someone has a better idea.
My original plan is correct: stop looking for someone else to get answers from and just pick up the Owners manual that came with us from the factory (Bible) and start through it bit by bit. Thanks for the help. I do appreciate it. –New Mexico
Update: Readers may now download the PDF version of Tangled Web from our site.
Husband Left Doctoral Work Behind for PCG:
Thank you for the exit and support network. My husband left his Ph.D. program almost two years ago, so that he might have the “privilege” of being God’s chosen. PCG “ministers” would not let him attend services until he left his doctoral work behind.
I am currently separated from my husband and see no means of reconciliation until he comes out of PCG. … –Affected by PCG
Innocent People Getting Kicked Out of PCG:
Allow me to briefly introduce myself. I was a WCG and PCG member. I left the PCG three years ago, when it became obvious that amongst other things, innocent people were getting kicked out and Gerald Flurry was claiming he could convert the whole world by publishing Mystery of the Ages. I still am interested about what is going on in the PCG because I have many friends there, even if none of them will speak to me any longer. –Former PCG member
Suspended for Asking Questions:
I was a member of the WCG and PCG from 1984 to 1999. They suspended me about 6 months ago for asking about the same questions [Read Mike’s testimony]. When they would not give me the answers, I stopped tithing. That is when the ax fell.
I almost gave up on God after that happened. But finding your web page gave me food for thought–that Christ allows things to happen to us for a reason. As it says in the Bible: “All things work for the good for those who love God.” They work for the good but they may not feel good at the time. As far back as I can remember, I have always searched for God’s Truth. These people in the PCG had my brother-in-law spy on me to see if I was saying anything contrary to their dogma. They even tried to turn my wife against me, phoning her while I was at work.
Two ministers came to my house to suspend me and they didn’t even have their Bibles in their hands. I quoted Scripture to them and they totally sweep that under the rug. They even had the nerve to ask my wife if she was going to remain faithful to their church after they suspended me. By the way, I couldn’t find the word suspension in the Bible that pertains to that process.
I still have a lot of trash in my mind from them, but I have faith that Christ will cleanse my mind. As for now I must go forward and trust in the true God.
In Christ’s love, –Former PCG member
PCG Member Living in Fear of God:
Please give me whatever info you have on Gerald Flurry’s church PCOG. My father is a member of this cult and WW church for almost 20 years now. He is destroying a 36 year marriage to my mother. He is living in such fear of God he doesn’t know how to live anymore. The things he believes in now are so crazy some people think he has lost his mind. We got hold of a tape of one of his church sermons and the minister of his church said poor people in the ghetto should be put out of their misery. When we confronted my dad about this, he got rid of the tape and said we don’t understand. My dad took a trip recently to meet with Flurry to talk about them and he would not meet with him. Do you know what is going on? We are praying that this will wake him up that he’s been brainwashed. Thank you. Any info will help. –Anonymous
Flurry Disfellowshipped Me:
I attended the WCG and then the PCG. I wish only to discuss the governmental body of the PCG.
I was disfellowshipped because of something someone else said. It’s a long story, but I was never consulted or met with in anyway before being disfellowshipped, yet the church leaders talked several times in sermons about how they talked with members before taking this action. I do agree that the people who stayed believe they are following God’s Government, not Flurry. But it did appear to me that Gerald Flurry was not following God’s government. I was planning on leaving no matter what the church decided in my case.
There was always a fine line that came between God’s law and Flurry’s. Gerald Flurry did cross that line several times in my view. –Disfellowshipped from PCG
“Buyer Beware” of PCG:
As a former member of the PCG, I find the letters people write about the PCG to be very familiar. The leader of this group is only interested in power, prestige and money. Also he likes a lot of titles, one is found in John 1:21, the prophet mentioned in this verse refers to him–so says the leader of this group. People looking into this group should heed the old saying “buyer beware.” In the future this group may be in the news for reasons not so good. The leaders in this group are very controlling and have plenty of deceived people to lead around like sheep to the slaughter. –Former PCG member (and glad of it)
Brother in PCG:
Can you help me get my brother out of the PCG? They are turning him against his family. I was nearly taken in by them but fortunately I escaped. They are bleeding him dry of money and want to know where every penny he has goes to or how he is spending it. I feel so sorry for him. How can I get him to see sense? They even preformed an illegal marriage ceremony and now he has a partner that is bleeding him dry too. It’s getting desperate. He thinks that any thing good that happens is because he has tithed more and anything bad that happens is because of his evilness and he hasn’t been praying enough. Every three months he gets very drunk and phones me to ask for help but he is in London many miles away, and the minister gets there before me and tells him to give more money and pray more and this will keep him in the church or they will throw him out. He sounds desperate and often threatens suicide but then he is all mixed up about his eternal life. Please help. What can I do to get him out and away from these maniacs. Yours Sincerely, — Scotland
Comment: This person has received a personal reply.
Flurry Once Said “No time to Build a College”
Concerning the “Imperial College” that Gerald Flurry is building. I remember Flurry telling members that there was “no time to build a college.” That was back in `95 or `96. –N.C.
Gerald Flurry Looked Like a Drunken Bum:
What an amazing website! I’ve spent all night reading, reading, reading, and I’ve just begun. I wanted to see what you had to say about Gerald Flurry–I knew him in 1973-1974 when he visited me a couple times when I lived in CA in 1979-1980, as my pastor in WA in 1987 when I stopped by to visit him in his home in Edmond, OK (both he and his wife had changed so much from 1980), and in 1994 when I wrote him a letter telling him what a bum he was. (I didn’t know he was a drunken bum, but I told him he looked like one on his TV program a pal had taped for me. I also bawled him out for getting his daughter to steal for him 20,000 addresses of “Armstrongites” from WCG’s computer files. No wonder Gerry won’t come down to the lobby of his headquarters to say hello to me! Twice he’s been “too busy” so the last time I stopped by, 1998, I hollered real loud so all his workers could hear, “Tell Gerry I just stopped by to give him a big hug!”
IMHO, you present your views in very balanced tones. I appreciate your way of presenting the issues. Thank you. –Arkansas
Getting Away From This Sick Cult:
Hello;
Thanks for all your hard work. I was a member of the WCG, PCG and RCG [Restored Church of God]. What a ride. I haven’t been there but I suppose it’s like coming back from hell, getting away from this sick, sick cult–so much to say, but I am sure you’ve heard it all. I am looking for all the rotten history on Herbert Armstrong. I have a lot but I am sure there’s so much more. Can you help? Thanks. –Former member
Reply: See our section: Herbert W. Armstrong (will cover background info).
Flurry Saying We are in the “Last Hour”:
I am leaving the Philadelphia Church of God. I have been a member for over 10 years. I submitted to “government” even when common sense told me the ministers were dead wrong, because I was taught not to argue with a minister or question them. I went along with the new revelation, even when it didn’t make any sense. Gerald Flurry is proclaiming now that he has had revelation that, starting on May 5, 2001, we are in the “last hour.” –Anonymous
Common Sense Told Me PCG Ministers Were Dead Wrong:
I am leaving the Philadelphia Church of God. I have been a member for over 10 years. I submitted to “government” even when common sense told me the ministers were dead wrong, because I was taught not to argue with a minister or question them. I went along with the new revelation, even when it didn’t make any sense. Gerald Flurry is proclaiming now that he has had revelation that starting on May 5, 2001 we are in the “last hour.” –Anonymous
I Used to Be Scared of the Old Testament:
I didn’t realize that Jesus (as the pre-incarnate Christ) was in the Old Testament. Dr. Vernon McGee makes much more sense than Flurry. It is so strange how we can get diverted by doctrine that sounds so true. Anyway, I just want to let you know that this set of tapes you mailed was special. I learned so much. I was always scared of the Old Testament but now I can see that Jesus is in the O. T., too, so there is no need to be scared. Doc McGee makes so much clear sense with no deceit! –Survivor of PCG cult
Comment: Messages of the late J. Vernon McGee can be heard on the radio in many parts of the world. Go to our Links under “Spiritual Healing” for more about his ministry.